Report: Peyton Manning Rejected TV Role So He Wouldn’t Have to Critique Eli

Fox and ESPN were after Manning to join "Thursday Night Football" or "Monday Night Football."

Former NFL player Peyton Manning and NY Giants, NFL player Eli Manning attend the Annual Charity Day hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC and GFI at Cantor Fitzgerald on September 12, 2016 in New York City.  (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald)
Former NFL player Peyton Manning and NY Giants, NFL player Eli Manning attend the Annual Charity Day hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC and GFI at Cantor Fitzgerald on September 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald)
Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald

Earlier this week, Peyton Manning told Restaurant Business Magazine he didn’t “want to be a critic at this point.”

According to The New York Post, there was one particular person whom Manning did not want to be a critic of: his little brother Eli.

Manning, who was offered deals by both Fox and ESPN to work on either “Thursday Night Football” or “Monday Night Football” with a pay rate of around $350,000 per game, was so serious about not having to rip his brother that he brought it up during the hiring process.

In order to lure him in, sources told The Post that Fox informed Manning it would try to influence the NFL’s schedule so that the Giants did not play any Thursday games on the network.

Since Fox has mainly NFC games on their Sunday package, that arrangement, while extreme, could have theoretically been possible up to a point.

Instead of broadcasting, 42-year-old Manning has been collecting six-figure checks doing speaking gigs and reportedly wants to pursue a John Elway-like role in an NFL front-office down the road.

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